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Tommaso Ciampa
Ciampa appeared on the July 14, 2005, episode of SmackDown as Thomas Whitney, ESQ, one of Muhammad Hassan's lawyers and confronted The Undertaker. Tommaso read a statement from Hassan before being attacked by The Undertaker. On the December 17 episode of Velocity, under the ring name Demarso Whitney, he was defeated by Jamie Noble. On the August 25, 2006 episode of Heat, he and Kofi Kingston had a dark match against Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch. Although not re-signed to WWE, on September 2, 2015, Ciampa was announced as part of the NXT Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament. On September 9, he successfully advanced in the first round of the tournament alongside his new partner Johnny Gargano, defeating the also newly-formed duo of Tyler Breeze and Bull Dempsey. On the September 16 episode of NXT, Ciampa and Gargano lost to Baron Corbin and Rhyno, thus eliminating them from the tournament. On the September 30 episode, Ciampa lost to Breeze in a singles match. He appeared on the December 2 episode of NXT, losing to Samoa Joe. Ciampa won a match against Danny Burch on the January 13, 2016, episode of NXT and defeated Bull Dempsey on the February 24, episode. On March 15 tapings, Ciampa scored another win, this time against Jesse Sorensen. On April 2, 2016, it was confirmed that Ciampa had signed with WWE earlier in the week. On June 23, Ciampa entered the Cruiserweight Classic tournament, losing to Johnny Gargano in his first round match. On August 20 at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II, Ciampa and Gargano unsuccessfully challenged The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson) for the NXT Tag Team Championship. Ciampa and Gargano, now collectively billed as "#DIY", received another title shot in a two out of three falls match on November 19 at NXT TakeOver: Toronto, where they defeated The Revival to become the new NXT Tag Team Champions. DIY went on to successfully defend their championships against the team of Tajiri and Akira Tozawa and TM61 in Japan and Australia, respectively. They retained their titles against The Revival on the January 11, 2017 episode of NXT, but were attacked by The Authors of Pain (Akam and Rezar) afterwards. Ciampa and Gargano lost the championships to The Authors of Pain at NXT TakeOver: San Antonio. They would get their rematch on the March 1 episode of NXT, which ended in a no contest after The Revival interfered and attacked both teams. This led to NXT TakeOver: Orlando, a triple threat elimination match between all three teams for the titles, but DIY were unsuccessful after being the first team eliminated. At NXT TakeOver: Chicago, DIY faced The Authors of Pain in the first-ever ladder match for the NXT Tag Team Championship, which they lost. After the match, Ciampa attacked Gargano, turning heel and disbanding #DIY. It was later revealed that Ciampa had suffered a ruptured ACL in his right knee during the ladder match and would await surgery. In a further update, it was reported that his surgery was successful and the timetable for his return was estimated for early-to-mid 2018. On January 27, 2018, Ciampa returned at NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia, attacking Gargano with a crutch to close the show. He then cost Gargano his NXT Championship match against Andrade "Cien" Almas on the February 21 episode of NXT, forcing Gargano to leave NXT as per the pre-match stipulation. Ciampa made his in-ring return in the main event of NXT TakeOver: New Orleans, losing to Gargano in an unsanctioned match, resulting in Gargano being reinstated to NXT. Their feud would continue throughout the following weeks in which they attacked each other and interfered in each other's matches, leading to a Chicago Street Fight at NXT TakeOver: Chicago II, which Ciampa won. On the July 18 tapings of the July 25 episode of NXT, Ciampa defeated Aleister Black to capture the NXT Championship after Gargano interfered and accidentally hit Black with the title belt. This made Ciampa only the second wrestler to hold both the NXT Championship and NXT Tag Team Championship, after Neville. At NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn IV, he was scheduled to defend the title against Black and Gargano in a triple threat match, but Black was removed from the match due to being ambushed in the arena parking lot by an unknown assailant (in reality, Black had suffered a legitimate groin injury). The match was changed to the first-ever Last Man Standing match for the NXT Championship between Ciampa and Gargano, where Ciampa retained his title. At NXT TakeOver: WarGames, Ciampa retained the championship against Velveteen Dream. Ciampa faced Black for the championship at NXT TakeOver: Phoenix, in a winning effort. Ciampa debuted on Raw on February 18, 2019 with three other fellow NXT stars Johnny Gargano, Aleister Black and Ricochet. In his debut match on Raw, he and Gargano defeated Raw Tag Team Champions The Revival. The next night on SmackDown Live, Ciampa and Gargano defeated The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus). On March 6, it was reported that Ciampa would have to undergo neck surgery, thus forcing him to vacate the NXT Championship. At that point, he had not wrestled since February 19. WWE later confirmed the story saying he would undergo an anterior cervical fusion. On March 13, 2019 tapings of NXT (airing March 20), Ciampa relinquished his NXT Championship, thus ending his reign at 237 days. Ciampa gave an update on April 1, saying that if he is able to return to the ring, doctors say he will be on "borrowed time". Ciampa made a surprise appearance at NXT TakeOver: New York after Gargano defeated Adam Cole to win the NXT Championship, and embraced Gargano to celebrate his victory. On the October 2 episode of NXT, Ciampa returned from injury as a face by confronting Adam Cole and his NXT Championship.Category:NXT Superstars Category:NXT Champions Category:NXT Tag Team Champions